A giant asteroid the size of Big Ben will come closer to Earth than the MOON on Saturday – World Time Todays

A massive asteroid nearly the size of London’s famous Big Ben clock tower and New York’s Statue of Liberty will come within 107,500 miles (173,000 km) of Earth on Saturday – twice as close as the moon, which is at an average distance of 238,855 miles orbited (384,400 km).

Dubbed 2023 DZ2, the space rock is currently estimated to be up to 305 feet (93 m) in diameter, while Big Ben is 315 feet (96 m) in diameter.

It is also three times the size of the Chelyabinsk asteroid, which struck Russia in 2013 and sent a shock wave around the globe twice.

2023 DZ2 is expected to make its closest approach to Earth at 19:51 GMT (15:51 EDT) and hurtle by at 17,426 mph (28,044 km/h).

NASA says that an object of this size that flies so close to Earth occurs “only about once a decade.”

A massive asteroid nearly the size of London’s famous Big Ben clock tower and New York’s Statue of Liberty will come within 107,500 miles (173,000 km) of Earth on Saturday – twice as close as the moon, which is at an average distance of 238,855 miles orbited (384,400 km)

2023 DZ2 (pictured) is expected to make its closest approach to Earth at 19:51 GMT (15:51 EDT) on Saturday, hurtling by at 17,426 mph (28,044 km/h).

The US space agency’s Asteroid Watch team tweeted: “Astronomers at the International Asteroid Warning Network are using this narrow approach to learn as much as possible about 2023 DZ2 in a short amount of time – good practice for #PlanetaryDefense in the future when a potential asteroid threat has ever been discovered.’

The asteroid was discovered on February 27 this year by scientists from the European Near Earth Asteroids Research Project.

They observed it with the Isaac Newton Telescope at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on La Palma in the Canary Islands.

At that time it was 9.9 million miles (16 million km) from Earth and took about 3.16 years to orbit the sun.

But after passing our planet this weekend and being subjected to its gravity, its orbital period will be shortened to about 3.01 years.

2023 DZ2 is an Apollo asteroid, meaning it is crossing Earth’s orbit just like the 1862 asteroid named “Apollo” that was first observed doing so.

Although it is not known exactly where it came from, most near-Earth asteroids come from the “main” asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars.

NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office says that ‘the vast majority of near-Earth asteroids originate from the inner part of the main belt, where their orbits have been altered over tens of millions of years by the gravitational influence of Jupiter and Mars and some mutual collisions.’

While the maximum potential diameter of 2023 DZ2 is 315 feet (96 m), scientists claim it could be as little as 135 feet (41 m).

The Chelyabinsk asteroid, which caused extensive damage on impact and injured more than 1,600 people, was only 19 m tall.

2023 DZ2 was briefly given a one in 430 chance on NASA’s risk list of hitting Earth on March 27, 2026, but that chance has since been reduced to zero.

The asteroid was discovered on February 27 this year by scientists from the European Near Earth Asteroids Research Project. Pictured: location of the asteroid in the solar system on Saturday

NASA scientists say that an object of this size that flies so close to Earth occurs “only about once a decade.” While the maximum potential diameter of 2023 DZ2 is 315 feet (96 m), scientists claim it could be as little as 135 feet (41 m).

2023 DZ2 is an Apollo asteroid, meaning it is crossing Earth’s orbit just like the 1862 asteroid named “Apollo” that was first observed doing so

NASA has calculated that 2023 DZ2 will be at its brightest for stargazers in Southeast Asia around 17:20 GMT on Saturday, with an apparent magnitude of 9.902.

It will be darker elsewhere, but it will be visible from the Northern Hemisphere at around 19:52 GMT (15:52 EDT) on Friday evening, according to EarthSky.

Amateur astronomers wanting to take a look should use a telescope with at least a 15 cm optical tube.

It will appear as a slow-moving star in the southeastern sky, east of the constellations Orion, Canis Major and Canis Minor, reports EarthSky.

The best way to spot it is to point the telescope at a known star in its orbit, such as B. HIP 45578, and wait for the asteroid to move into the field of view.

You can also watch the asteroid’s approach with the live stream hosted by the Virtual Telescope Project, which begins at 11:30 p.m. GMT (7:30 p.m. EDT) on Saturday evening.

2023 DZ2 will appear as a slow-moving star to the southeast, just east of the constellations Orion, Canis Major, and Canis Minor, reports EarthSky

There are several asteroids out there with the potential to hit Earth in the coming centuries – although space agencies around the world are keeping a close eye on these.

NASA also conducted a successful experiment in which a small spacecraft deflected a space rock by ramming into it – the DART mission.

The good news is that very large asteroids – the kind that killed the dinosaurs – are being monitored and all are deemed “extremely unlikely” to hit Earth.

NASA says more than 100 tons of rock particles hit Earth every day — but only once every 2,000 years do football-field-sized asteroids arrive.

Civilization-destroying asteroids collide with our planet only every few million years — and all rocks this size are closely watched.

Asteroids are ranked according to their probability of hitting Earth on three scales – the Torino scale, a one-to-ten graph from 0 (will not hit Earth) to 10 (will hit Earth and will be catastrophic) .

No asteroid is currently rated above one.

The related Palermo scale is used by scientists to rank risk over time – and NASA’s Sentry Risk table classifies asteroids by their risk of hitting Earth.

First sightings of asteroids tend to be brief, and the more data scientists get, the less likely it is that an impact will occur.